Unlock your architecture!
Compass is still a relatively new tool from Atlassian, but it certainly doesn't need to hide behind the other Atlassian giants. Atlassian Compass is designed to help teams track and manage their software components, providing a comprehensive view of the software architecture. With Enterprise Architecture Manager, Compass extends its capabilities into the realm of enterprise architecture, making it easier for software architects to assess and optimize their IT landscape.
While Atlassian Compass components provide a snapshot of existing architecture, they do not address questions like "Why do we need this?" or "What does this application allow us to do exactly?". Enterprise Architecture Manager fills this gap by recording how well an application supports a Business Capability.
Enterprise Architecture Manager enables software architects to group applications into Business Capabilities, which represent specific functions that a business can perform and list all the IT applications required to execute those functions.
By adding a layer of Business Capabilities, architects can quickly get an overview of the software landscape and answer critical questions such as:
Enterprise Architecture Manager for Compass, aims to extend to Compass into the realm of Enterprise Architecture. To this end, it introduces a new architecture object, the Business Capability. A Business Capability can be thought of as a skill of an organization and is enabled by the use of software.
Within Compass' model, a Business Capability sits atop one or more application component that in turn represent the software enabling the capability.
In EAM, a Business Capability is mainly just a container for the applications enabling it. It has a name, a description and then the applications enabling it. These applications are taken directly from Compass' application components.
For each application there is a functional fit – a measure of how well that application's functionality fits to this Business Capability. Because an application can be great for one task, but absolutely not fit-for-purpose for another, the functional fit is unique to each application-capability relationship.
The core of Enterprise Architecture Manager are the reports it produces. Reports allow Enterprise Architects to answer questions about the state of the architecture and what impact any changes might have.
The Functional Fit Report shows how well a Business Capability is supported by the applications enabling it. This report can give you an idea of which applications are strong performers in general which are rather niche or which Business Capability needs better software support.
The Scorecard Health Report shows an average of the scores of an application. This can give you an idea of how good a shape the software enabling a Business Capability currently is.
